Anthropology

In La Molina, Lima, the world’s largest potato germplasm collection is preserved — with a backup copy stored underground in the Arctic. We explain how it works and why it matters for climate change.

In much of the traditional seed systems of the Andes, women take on a key role in selecting and preserving the next planting. We review what agricultural research says about it.

Long before any modern weather forecast, Andean communities observed a group of stars to decide when to plant potatoes. That practice, remarkably, is still alive today.

In Cusco’s Sacred Valley there is a set of circular terraces that creates up to 15°C of temperature difference between its highest and lowest points. We look at what we know about Moray and what it may have been used for.

Peru has repeatedly been named the world’s best culinary destination. But that title did not come out of nowhere: it stems from a unique combination of extreme geography, biodiversity and migration history. Here is why.

Just over a decade ago, quinoa and maca were virtually unknown outside Peru. We review, with real figures, how these crops went from local products to key players in international trade.

Long before modern ovens, the Incas already mastered sophisticated cooking techniques: cooking underground with hot stones and fermenting traditional beverages. Many of them are still used today.

Feeding millions of people spread between 4,000 meters of altitude and the coast was one of the great quiet achievements of the Inca Empire. Here is how they did it: their storehouses, their preservation techniques, and the very ingredients we continue to explore today at Colibrí Origins.